Widnes coach Denis Betts has said his side’s recent form “doesn’t matter” owing to them entering effectively a new league in the Super 8s Qualifiers – and that his side will reset ahead of that competition following another defeat on Thursday night.
The Vikings lost to local rivals Warrington to leave them with just five wins in the 23-round regular season – and they could yet finish the season at the bottom of the table should Leigh beat Salford on Friday.
But Betts has said that no matter how poor his team have been of late, the nature of everyone starting on zero in the Qualifiers, and a two-week mini-break before that starts, means it matters little.
When asked what he made of his side’s form, he said: “It doesn’t matter. I’ve been here before and it doesn’t matter.
“We’ll reset ourselves; we have a two-week break and we have seven games in a mini-season. It gives us a chance to right a couple of wrongs from this year by losing tight games and mentally not turning up.
“The beauty of the Qualifiers was that we didn’t appreciate it finishing one point off eighth but you start off zero when it starts. It’s that mentality you’ve got to carry forward. You’re playing against a completely different group of teams in the Championship sides and it’s a completely different competition.
“It’s like a mini pre-season; you have a bit of a holiday and come back and train hard going into it. ”
